Broadway League Threatens Lawsuits Against Casting Directors

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 10:57am

As a member of the American Federation of Teachers (AFL CIO), I'm with the casting directors.  the bullying tactics of the Broadway League will only backfire.   https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Update-Broadway-League-Threatens-Lawsuits-Against-Campaigning-Casting-Directors-20170621

[JennH]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 11:20am

Ok so of course I knew about this and just finished reading that article...I 1110005557579575757% support the CD's and their goal to have their own union, have benefits, etc. and I DO NOT support what is in essence, bullying tactics by the League, I will always be on the side of the underdog because I'm also tired of the "powers that be" merely thinking that those underneath them are whining/crying sour grapes and should "work hard for what they get" and all the bull**** cliches that come with these fights...however, saying that these casting offices are not employees of the shows themselves because they're third party independent contractors in conjunction with the shows they cast is correct. So...what can be done to move forward in this fight? Make them actual employees of the show? Something else entirely? It's obvious that the film/TV world has made this work, therefore it's only right and fair that the world of theatre do the same. I'm just not sure what the most useful course of action would be since being a CD has only been thought of as career for maybe only the last few years. Even five years ago, this wasn't the case just yet so this is still a relatively newfangled notion. I'm just glad this viewpoint is changing, and rapidly at that.

[Kad]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 11:25am

How are designers, choreographers, and directors- who are also unionized, with designers having their own companies- employed on productions? The model that is used for them can easily be applied to casting directors.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 11:29am

I've been wondering that also, Kad. I don't know the details, but why don't the casting companies (eg Telsey & Co) offer benefits to their employees, like any other business? I'm not on anyone's side, just curious.

Updated On: 6/21/17 at 11:29 AM

[trpguyy]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 11:39am

My question is how Casting Directors are being represented by the Teamsters rather than IATSE - who also encompasses company managers, FOH staff, etc. IATSE seems like a better fit for Casting Directors, and I imagine has more leverage with the League than the Teamsters do. 

 

Thag being said, retaliation because of union efforts is illegal and this probably won't end well. 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 11:42am

Unfortunately, labor relations is always conducted in hyperbole. And some things are being twisted on both sides. 

That said, the "model" you (Kad) refer to is that designers choreographers and directors are personally engaged, whereas presently casting directors are not. One hires a corporation, not a person. A director does not send someone else to cover for him or her at a rehearsal. And an assistant director is employed by the production, and gets benefits from the production. 

I don't care which way this works out, but it does bug me that the CD's are looking for benefits for themselves but not for their employees many of whom get no benefits from their employers. This strikes me as disingenuous to the extreme and I think it is unfortunate that many of those knee jerk supporting the CDs are ignoring this issue. 

[SueBee06]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 1:30pm

The model that immediately came to my mind is how a PR firm like Boneau/Bryan-Brown works for the show, yet an individual in their office signs the ATPAM contract. Although I think the logistics might be a bit more involved with that (my mind is fuzzy - it's been a few years) and it may just be B/B-B specific, why couldn't casting directors work the same way? And I assume that they are with the Teamsters simply because that is their union for TV/Film.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 3:42pm

@trp, yes IATSE seems like a better fit but it is up to the employees to choose their alignment. No one else has a say in the matter. Retaliation is illegal, but that presupposes that the CDs are employees which they are not currently, so in essence they are asking to be deemed employees. That is what the expedited proceeding the league is suggesting is about. (This is more complicated but I think that is a fair summary, though I am open to hearing why it is not.)

@Sue, yes the ATPAM precedent is the apt one, and is the inconsistency in the League's position although I suppose they can say it was a mistake and is not precedential. 

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 4:16pm

"I don't care which way this works out, but it does bug me that the CD's are looking for benefits for themselves but not for their employees many of whom get no benefits from their employers. This strikes me as disingenuous to the extreme and I think it is unfortunate that many of those knee jerk supporting the CDs are ignoring this issue. "

 

Yeah, that was my issue with it too. They are employers themselves. Telsey & Co (for instance) is not just Bernie. They have a whole staff. Don't they need to supply benefits for their whole team as an employer? Do they (the employees) not get paid by the company?

[Kad]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 4:20pm

Telsey + Co also has fairly demanding unpaid internships that they prefer to be full-time.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 4:26pm

Kad said: "Telsey + Co also has fairly demanding unpaid internships that they prefer to be full-time."

Exactly.  And these "interns" perform duties that typically would be done a paid staff member --- such as answering the phones, scheduling auditions, reviewing submissions, etc. 

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 4:38pm

Which is actually very illegal! Anyway. Casting offices should give their employees benefits because they are employers. Just my two cents.

[trpguyy]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 5:15pm

"yes IATSE seems like a better fit but it is up to the employees to choose their alignment. No one else has a say in the matter."

Yeah, what I meant was that I'm surprised that they didn't go to IATSE for representation, because IA surely would have greeted them with open ams. SueBee pointed out that casting directors for TV and film are members of the Teamsters union, so that makes more sense now.

[temms]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 5:45pm

I know of at least one person who works for Telsey as an associate and gets benefits, so at least some employees do. Telsey is a little unusual among NY casting offices because they're so big and do so much film and TV on top of theatre, so what works for them doesn't necessarily work for Rubin or Binder or the others which are much smaller operations. Telsey handles way more shows than any other office and have a considerably larger staff than any of the others (as well as their own private audition studios). And every casting office uses interns, and they do a lot of work and the hours are indeed long. But they also learn in up-close detail exactly how the casting process works, which is something you can only learn by watching it unfold.

This battle isn't so much about the assistants and people who keep the office running, this is more about the person whose name is listed as the specific CD for a given show - they're not asking the producers to provide health insurance for all their employees, they're trying to get it for the point person on each project just as the other independent contractors get. It's a complicated situation, and the CDs have said that this is less about getting it for themselves as it is setting a precedent so that future CDs will have some protection starting earlier in their careers.

There's no clear easy solution, but the Broadway League threatening lawsuits is absolutely unreasonable and I can't imagine will help their side at all.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 6:04pm

they're not asking the producers to provide health insurance for all their employees, they're trying to get it for the point person on each project just as the other independent contractors get

 

I don't believe that is true. I have never seen a situation where an independent contractor (director, choreographer, playwright, set designer, etc.) has received health insurance coverage from the producer, unless something changed very recently.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 6:06pm

Any office that employs over the ACA threshold must cover anyone who works the required hours. The logic of having one person covered and no one else escapes me on several different levels. And currently the contract is with the agency not one person except in small unincorporated offices. 

Regarding the "threats," this is just standard lawyer stuff, that is being standardly spun. As I said before, unfortunately, hyperbole is the name of the game in labor relations. Everything will fit into place once the NLRB rules, and that ruling has nothing to do with the "unreasonableness" of threats. (Meaning that, if the ruling is that the local is indeed a cartel and not a union of employees, then any damaging action taken is an actionable tort. If they are a union, then it is not and the threat may be out of line. I suspect the league is confident it will prevail on the merits.)

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/21/17 at 10:52pm

Yero my Hero said: "I don't believe that is true. I have never seen a situation where an independent contractor (director, choreographer, playwright, set designer, etc.) has received health insurance coverage from the producer, unless something changed very recently."

 

They don't receive insurance coverage directly from the producer, but the producer does make payments into their respective unions' health funds. For instance, the producers currently pay an initial fee of $2100 and a weekly payment of $220 into SDC's health fund for directors and choreographers and for their pension it's an initial payment of $2163 and a weekly payment of $215.

 

SDC Broadway Rate Sheet

[HogansHero]

Posted: 6/22/17 at 12:44am

also @Yero, directors and designers are not independent contractors. Nothing has changed in decades. No union employee receives direct coverage from the producer. As AEA explains, contributions are made to the collectively bargained plans. Playwrights are not employees and are not in a union and do not receive benefits. 

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 6/22/17 at 9:23am

"This battle isn't so much about the assistants and people who keep the office running, this is more about the person whose name is listed as the specific CD for a given show - they're not asking the producers to provide health insurance for all their employees, they're trying to get it for the point person on each project just as the other independent contractors get."

This makes no sense. They have the money to provide benefits for everyone, again, Telsey as an example. Why is it the League's responsibility? It's not.

 

"And every casting office uses interns, and they do a lot of work and the hours are indeed long. But they also learn in up-close detail exactly how the casting process works, which is something you can only learn by watching it unfold."

This is not an excuse. Using interns as unpaid labor instead of hiring a staff member to do the work is quite simply illegal.

Updated On: 6/22/17 at 09:23 AM

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 6/22/17 at 1:54pm

 @Yero, directors and designers are not independent contractors.

 

An independent contractor is defined as someone paid on a 1099 instead of a W2. I have worked in finance, HR, and payroll for producers and professional theater companies for my entire career, and they have always been treated as independent contractors (no taxes deducted, no employer provided health insurance, they don't receive unemployment or workers comp benefits, and they own their work). While I was at one company, that actually caused a lot of problems for SDC because some of their directors claimed unemployment or workers comp and they were denied because they were not employees. I don't know how those issues were resolved, if they ever were.

 

The problem is that the theater industry predates tax law, so many of the job roles that exist in theater do not fit cleanly into one category or the other. But at the end of the day, legally, an employee is someone paid on a W2 and an independent contractor is someone paid on a 1099. If the government tells you no, that person is actually an employee, then you have to start paying them on a W2.

 

They don't receive insurance coverage directly from the producer, but the producer does make payments into their respective unions' health funds. For instance, the producers currently pay an initial fee of $2100 and a weekly payment of $220 into SDC's health fund for directors and choreographers and for their pension it's an initial payment of $2163 and a weekly payment of $215.

 

That is true, and part of why SDC had those issues I alluded to. Legally, they should not be a union and should not be providing health insurance. However, they are and they do, and they probably have been since before current tax laws.

 

It is very complicated, and part of what I spend most of my days dealing with. Frankly, I'm glad it is so complicated, or I wouldn't have a career!

[newintown]

Posted: 6/22/17 at 2:09pm

"...they also learn in up-close detail exactly how the casting process works, which is something you can only learn by watching it unfold."

Having worked in a few casting offices many years ago (briefly), I can vouch that it's not brain surgery; in fact, although a trained monkey probably couldn't do it, it's not skilled labor. Often, it's the refuge of an actor or director who couldn't succeed in their first chosen profession, but who still wants to be, somehow, a part of the entertainment industry. Some of them are perfectly nice people, some are rather grotesque. But they deserve whatever pay and benefits they can negotiate.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 6/22/17 at 4:40pm

@yero, sorry but you are wrong. The fact that you think you are right and that the NLRB, IRS and DOL are wrong tells us just about everything we need to know. 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 6/22/17 at 10:24pm

newintown said: "
Having worked in a few casting offices many years ago (briefly), I can vouch that it's not brain surgery; in fact, although a trained monkey probably couldn't do it, it's not skilled labor. Often, it's the refuge of an actor or director who couldn't succeed in their first chosen profession, but who still wants to be, somehow, a part of the entertainment industry. Some of them are perfectly nice people, some are rather grotesque. But they deserve whatever pay and benefits they can negotiate.

 

"

Are you describing unpaid interns? Because casting directors read and interpret a play just as designers do, and make decisions as to the requirements of each role just as directors do. In addition, they have to gauge what the author(s) and director think they want while, in many cases, calculating how they can push the visions of the "creative" personnel by bringing in actors the creatives might not otherwise have considered right.

Casting is very much a skill and an art. Yes, sometimes (usually when there is no money) casting is left to somebody who just needs a day job. But a professional casting director not only works a 40-hour week, s/he spends nearly every night and all weekend doing "research" by seeing every show in town.

Furthermore, they often function as acting coaches in the heat of the moment, leading actors to choices that are smarter or more to the director's liking.

Then there are the special requirements, Julie Hughes and Joanna Merlin spent weeks and weeks trying to find full contingents of Asian-Americans for THE KING AND I (Yul Brynner tour and revival) and PACIFIC OVERTURES, respectively. Julie joked to me that she spent so much time at elementary schools looking for the "Siamese" children, she was afraid she might be arrested.

I'm surprised insurance and pension haven't been an issue before now. The poster above who said that casting director is a new career category is simply wrong. There were any number of career casting directors in the 1960s and 1970s, in addition to the two I mentioned. Yes, Joanna Merlin is also a fine actress in her own right; but for most of her career, she has also worked full time for Harold Prince. (Reread Zaidan's SONDEIM & CO. and you'll find Joanna quoted as often as any of Prince's frequent collaborators, except Sondheim himself.)